Illinois former teacher Elliott Nott arrested after hiding camera in school bathroom
The arrest of a former music teacher accused of hiding a motion-activated camera in a Near North Side school bathroom has Chicago Public Schools examining its hiring practices after it was discovered the instructor had past convictions for prowling and peeping, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Elliott Nott, 41, was charged with child pornography and seven felony counts of unauthorized videotaping. Prosecutors detailed that Nott, who was hired at Ogden in 2009, had a clean criminal record, but his prior convictions in New Hampshire and Illinois were discovered after the charges were filed.
The charges come after a camera was found Sept. 7 in a public bathroom at Ogden International School where Nott worked as a music teacher and track and field coach, according to Chicago police.
In 1993, Nott was convicted of misdemeanor “window peeping” and sentenced to 18 months supervision after an incident in Normal, IL and then in 2005, he was found guilty of prowling and loitering while he was a track and field coach at New England College in Henniker, NH.
Elliott Nott
Mark Basile, one of Nott’s attorneys, said Nott’s arrest record was “not relevant” to the current case.
“Our focus right now is the charges he’s facing right now, and just making sure that he hopefully gets a fair trial and that the media can be fair about it rather than trying to sensationalize this whole thing,” Basile said.
“What was going on before he was arrested, is we were getting numerous complaints of a peeping Tom — for lack of a better term. Someone peeping in windows,” said Chief Matthew French of the Henniker Police Department.
The battle over privacy versus discrimination against “transgender” individuals has become a divisive topic with companies like Target and the state of North Carolina becoming ground zero.
In fact, an Ohio judge just ruled that a school district must allow a boy access to locker rooms, bathrooms and co-mingling with girls despite privacy concerns over the open-door language of their policy.
